Panoramic cameras have been in use for many years, and have long been used in conventional camera systems using film. A panoramic camera is conventionally defined as a camera that produces an image that is at least twice as wide as its height. Less formally, a panoramic image can be thought of as an image of a panoramic view, which would require a normal person to pan their gaze (i.e., turn their head) across the view in order to see all of it.
In conventional photography, a panoramic view requires complex and heavy optics in the lenses to correct warping and other optical aberrations before the light is incident on the film. However, in digital cameras, where light is incident on a semiconductor or solid state image sensor to produce image data, optical aberrations can be corrected by image processing techniques, obviating the need for complex and often heavy optical lensing systems. Using image processing techniques, for example, the image produced by a fisheye lens, as incident on an image sensor, can be “unwarped” to produce a conventional-appearing image without the appearance of fisheye warping in the processed image. In other applications, multiple images of adjacent views can be “stitched” together to produce a larger image that is continuous across the image, without substantial aberration as would be the case by simply arranging the individual images to be merely adjacent each other.
In still image processing, processing time, while an important consideration, is not as critical as in video. Video processing requires outputting successive image data in frames at a rate necessary to facilitate the perception of motion when viewed by a person. Processing panoramic video will obviously require more processing resources to output the same frame rate as a non-panoramic video. As a result, image processors for panoramic video can be more expensive, and consume much more power than a conventional image processor. Likewise, a larger panoramic view requires more processing than a smaller panoramic view. Today, so-called 360 degree panoramic video is becoming more popular, with a number of 360 degree camera devices available for sale. These cameras produce panoramic video that is also navigable, meaning the viewer can shift view orientation around the video image in real time as the video is played. However, given that panoramic cameras are quickly being adopted in the consumer market, there is a desire to increase the options available to users, as well as a desire to reduce the cost of producing such devices.
Those skilled in the field of the present disclosure will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. The details of well-known elements, structure, or processes that would be necessary to practice the embodiments, and that would be well known to those of skill in the art, are not necessarily shown and should be assumed to be present unless otherwise indicated.